When Kyle Shewfelt arrived back in Calgary in 2004 with his Olympic gold medal, he immediately began thinking about how he was going use his new-found status to make a difference. Nevermind that he had just become an inspiration to thousands of young athletes by becoming the first Canadian artistic gymnast to win an Olympic […]

It’s billed as a benign social networking smartphone app designed by students for students to namelessly post compliments, confessions and discuss school events. But Communet: Student Chats & Confessions — and the inherent anonymity granted to its users — has generated a flood of vulgar, racist, sexist, threatening and violent comments about students and teachers. The […]

In the wake of a private school bankruptcy that left scores of Alberta parents out of pocket for taxpayer-covered expenses, the Liberal opposition says the province should require all home-schooled students to register with public and separate school districts to prevent future problems.

One Alberta family’s Remembrance Day tradition spread to Calgary on Thursday as hundreds of junior high students placed poppies on veteran graves at Burnsland Cemetery. For years, Maureen Bianchini-Purvis placed a red poppy on the headstone of her mother, a Second World War veteran, who’s final wish was that she be honoured on Armistice Day.

A rookie candidate for the Progressive Conservatives fended off four opponents in Monday's byelection race for Calgary-West, including a popular former school trustee considered by many to be a star candidate for the opposition Wildrose.

Surging student enrolment could spell trouble next fall for the city’s public school board if the Alberta government rejects a proposal for 28 new modular classrooms. An initial count from the Calgary Board of Education shows 3,709 new kids entered the city’s already bloated classrooms in September, with significant growth (2,728 kids) in Grades 1 to 6, boosting total enrolment to 114,472.

Public school trustees delivered a crippling blow Tuesday to a parent advocacy group after the board rejected a funding proposal and ended the organization’s status as an official stakeholder with Calgary’s largest school board. “Without the stakeholder status the ability to collect the community around things is greatly decreased ... almost crippling,” said Karen Lloyd, president for the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils (CAPSC).

Premier Jim Prentice unveiled his government’s “historic” school infrastructure plan Wednesday that would include an estimated $2 billion to build 55 new schools and 20 modernizations across Alberta. Prentice’s school announcement — the latest in a series he has made since calling four byelections in Calgary and Edmonton — was aimed at dampening concerns the government was failing to build enough schools to meet student enrolment demands.

Alberta’s new education minister is defending his push while serving as a city school board trustee six years ago for a $285-million headquarters to house administrators, even as he complained to provincial officials that there wasn’t enough money to keep classrooms adequately repaired. While the Calgary Board of Education’s maintenance backlog mounted above $500 million in 2008, leaked documents show Gordon Dirks made the motion to approve a two-decade lease for a new central office, the escalating cost of which would need to be covered by redirecting money then being earmarked to maintain schools.

The Alberta Liberals accused the government Friday of neglecting a massive $1.5-billion maintenance backlog at K-12 schools and post-secondary institutes across the province. The Liberals obtained the figures through a Freedom of Information request, which shows deferred maintenance for K-12 schools is nearly $852 million, while post-secondaries have a combined backlog of $660.4 million.

Opposition parties of all stripes are once again demanding the Alberta government eliminate mandatory school fees, as thousands of students return to class this week and parents reach for their wallets. “This has gotten out of hand,” said Bruce McAllister, Wildrose education critic. “September has become ‘Cheque-tember.’ And the more kids you have, the more that you pay.”

The Calgary Flames are partnering with the YMCA in a bid to improve the health of Calgary’s youth. Beginning Sept. 1, all Grade 6 students in Calgary will receive a free, full-year membership to the YMCA.

As far as musical instruments go, the oboe requires a certain kind of perseverance. First off, the player is required to vibrate both sides of a finicky double reed. Success produces distinctively pure, melancholy notes; failure turns the wind instrument into a quacking duck.

Calgary public school trustees called on parents Tuesday to “rise up” against the provincial government as the board struggles with a “lean” budget that includes controversial hikes to mandatory student fees. The proposed 2014-2015 budget for the Calgary Board of Education would push fees to $8.9 million this fall for busing, noon supervision and instructional materials, in part to cover a $6-million shortfall.

Officials, parents and residents in Springbank are questioning the approval given for a small plane to fly out from the parking lot of Calaway Park given its proximity to two schools after the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff.

Calgary’s public and Catholic school boards will be pushing for more than $1 billion in new school and modernization projects over the next three years, according to recently released capital priority plans. The Calgary Board of Education released its 2015-18 capital list Monday afternoon, one day before it goes before school trustees at their regular meeting.

A gaping loophole in provincial election campaign finance rules allowed for an influx of cash and in-kind donations to flow into the campaign coffers of Calgary public school trustee candidates in last fall’s election. Recently released campaign disclosure statements show 21 of 25 trustee candidates received a total of $170,906.89 in contributions, an 82 per cent increase over the 2010 election. Four trustees did not file their 2013 disclosure statements and could be penalized.

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